Speaking at Lord’s, in the same hospitality box in the Tavern Stand where Andrew Strauss had paid tribute to Cook 24 hours earlier, Cook reflected on his four years as England captain and revealed he is still hurt by the Pietersen affair.

“It was obviously a big part of my captaincy. I felt like it wasn’t handled particularly well by the ECB. I know I was the lightening rod for it, every person thought it was my decision. I felt I bore the brunt of that, unfairly in my personal opinion. As much power you get as England captain, you don’t have the ultimate decision on that sort of thing," he told Nasser Hussain in an interview for Sky.

"Yes, I was part of the decision making, as six or seven other people were. I didn’t actually have that final trigger and I felt as if I was the only person who made that decision. I felt a little bit let down by the ECB by that one period where they kind of left me out to dry a little bit. But that’s all gone now. It’s part and parcel of the challenge of being captain. I can’t say now I have any regrets. I’ve tried, whether I got it right or wrong, to do what was the best for English cricket at that time.”

Cook was speaking at Lord'sCredit:
Paul Grover

But while Cook expressed regret over the fall out surrounding the decision to terminate Pietersen’s career in 2014, he said in his press conference he believed it was the right call for the team. This was not an olive branch to his former team-mate.

“The decision was what we thought was the best for English cricket. The fallout was not very good for English cricket. It was not great to see and be part of it when it was all over the front and back pages and social media like it was. The responsibility as a captain and a player is to get cricket in the papers and in the public for the right reasons but for that six months it kind of wasn’t. But since Straussy has come on board and made the final decision again (ending Pietersen’s England career in 2015) it did settle down.”

Will Pietersen define Cook’s captaincy? Possibly. His choice of highlights from his captaincy were interesting in that regard, particularly given the magnificent series win in India in 2012, an achievement brought into sharp focus by the hammering before Christmas.

Firstly he picked 2014 at Southampton when, scrabbling around for form and close to resigning having just been beaten by India at Lord’s, adding to the flak he was facing for the Pietersen call, he received a standing ovation when he reached lunch not out on the first day. “That was a special moment for me that kept me in the job,” he said.

Cook admitted it was an “easy decision" to resign the captaincy this week and his mind was made up when he left Chennai in December. “It was sad, it's a job you need 100 percent commitment to, to drive the team forward at all times. But looking in the mirror at the end of India, I felt I couldn't do that.”

England lost eight Tests in 2016, their worst year since 1993, although they did play a whopping 17 matches, and the team was going stale, something Cook accepted responsibility for.

“One hundred per cent. That’s part of the parcel of being captain. You are responsible. With the coaches, It’s not a one-man thing but ultimately the captain is part of that. The dressing-room has been fantastic, the support of the players has been brilliant, it’s just I think that hearing a new voice could help. The last year, we played some good cricket but we lost eight games. We kind of stagnated if we are being brutally honest as a team. There is a lot of work that needed to be done I felt and I just didn’t have that energy to do that.”

Now he contemplates life as simply Cook the batsman. He refused to reveal his targets but passing Sachin Tendulkar’s tally for the mot Test runs (15,921) must be one with Cook, who has scored 11,057, hoping he is “still here in four or five years’ time as an England player”.

He will pick up a bat again on March 1 when Essex begin pre-season training as “bog standard county player” as it was put to him, and has until July, when Test cricket starts again for England, to become accustomed to his new life. “It’s not an obituary, I still will be around,” were his final words.